Redemption
by Piccolo is green
Summary: When Trunks is abducted, Vegeta and Bulma are forced to work together to save their son. Eleven prompt drabble series for the October 2014 BVDN on We're Just Saiyan.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z.**

**A/N: **This series of drabbles was completed for We're Just Saiyan's October BVDN – we were given half an hour max per prompt. I did my best to tie them all together into a story, so I've changed the order of the drabbles to make the overall story clear. I've left the prompt number there, so you can see the order in which I wrote them. I added in an extra drabble based on the overall theme of the night, just to tie the story all together. This time every drabble is exactly 100 words, something I'm pretty pleased about.

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><p><strong>Redemption<strong>

**Prompt Two: Slave**

Bulma slumped against the gravity simulator, her legs giving way under exhaustion. The entire day had been a blur, from the moment the alien ship had flown over the park, plucking her toddler from her arms before she even had a chance to react. Now she stared up at Vegeta, who stood watching out one of the port windows of the small Capsule Corp. ship.

"Do you think they'll kill him?" Her voice was cold, robotic, her mind not yet able to grasp the severity of the situation.

Vegeta was silent for a moment. "No. It was a slave ship."

**Prompt Three: Black**

Alone, she found herself looking over her shoulders at every noise. The sky turned black, but she continued to work on the ship, determined to fix the broken landing gear before she turned in for the night, even if it meant relying on dim lamp light.

Pausing to take a drink, she looked up at the stars, gasping in awe as she gazed at the planet's three moons, the full one far larger than Earth's had ever been.

She jumped as an almighty roar ripped through the air, and only then did she realise that Vegeta had not yet returned.

**Prompt**** Five: Arch-rival**

"Oozaru," she repeated, testing the word on her tongue as her fingers ran through the thick fur of his tail. She could feel the power of the muscle underneath, and smiled as he reacted to her touch, an almighty shiver running across his naked back as he stretched out on the bed.

"I ran because… I've seen it before – twice, actually – and both times Goku had no control over himself. I assumed it would be the same with you."

Vegeta snorted in derision. "Only low class fools can't control their transformations," he bit out, ripping his tail from her grasp.

**Prompt Eight: Bad Man**

Kuriza sat back in his chair, the sway of his tail belying his irritation. The entire room was filled with the stink of slavers, which he detested.

The head slaver was a brave one, rising from the floor to speak. "My Lord, I have in my possession a child you may be interested in. It's Prince Vegeta's son."

The child was brought forward, its big blue eyes wide with fright. "It's a _baby_," he snarled in disgust.

The child raised one chubby hand, fingers pointing. "You-sa bad man," it said with complete sincerity, and Kuriza could not contain his laughter.

**Prompt One: Abandon**

Beads of sweat broke out on her neck as she stood hunched over the open control panel, her grip on the pliers slipping as she rushed to connect wires to her phone. Vegeta paced impatiently behind her, his tail curling about in irritation.

"Hurry!"

"Just one minute! That's all I need!"

It was dangerously hot in the cockpit, and she fell forward as the ship gave an almighty lurch. "Fuck," she hissed, barely managing to save the connection she'd established.

"We need to –"

"I can't abandon this data!" she screamed, heart in her mouth as the download reached 100%.

**Prompt Ten: Absolution**

They stared at the coordinates on the screen. She'd trawled through the files downloaded from the slave ship, searching for anything useful in the ship's log. Eventually she'd found the planet where it had docked, passing control of a Saiyan child over to another ship_._

"It will take another day to get there," she whispered. "We should get some sleep."

Vegeta was still covered in the blood of the slavers he had killed. She took him by the hand, pulling him into the bathroom, and washed the filth from his skin; this small task an act of love and absolution.

**Prompt Four: Pride**

She'd only ever seen Frieza once – from a distance – but as the alien's face flashed up on the screen, she knew at once that this one was of the same species. It smiled at them through the video link, and bile rose in her throat. Beside her, Vegeta's body thrummed with tension.

"Kuriza," he hissed through clenched teeth.

The alien threw his head back and cackled. "Oh, _monkey prince_, I am _pleased_ to see you. See, it is a matter of pride that I should have possession of your son, especially after what you filthy Saiyans did to my father."

**Prompt Six: Immortality**

He flew through the dying ship, Bulma held tight in his arms, their screaming child pressed safe between them. Navigating the halls was easy – it was a replica of Frieza's starship, and he knew it well.

The lights flickered as he reached the space pod station. Wrenching open a pod door, he threw Bulma and the child in, pausing as Bulma grasped at his shirt.

"Come with us!" she screamed through tears.

He shook his head.

"You'll die! You said he can breathe in space!"

"I'll destroy him!" he roared, slamming the door down and ejecting the pod into space.

**Prompt Seven: Sacrifice**

She pressed her hands against the glass, watching Kuriza's broken starship grow smaller and smaller. Trunks was crying beside her, but her gaze remained fixated on that area of space, her lips whispering a prayer to Kami, to Dende, to the Kais… to anyone that could help.

She knew it was no use.

The blast rose out of the darkness, filling up her vision, breaking her heart. In that moment she felt Vegeta go; the life force she had come to know so well disappearing amongst the blinding light.

For a moment, time stood still, and then the screaming began.

**Prompt Nine: Future Timeline**

When the Cell Games were over, and she had sent her eldest son back to his own time, Bulma had taken one last trip to Kami's lookout. There was one piece of information she had to have – the coordinates to New Namek.

"Just in case we ever need those dragonballs," she'd told Dende at the time; "some people have already been wished back with Earth's set, and Shenron won't grant the same wish twice."

Now she sat in the dark of the pod, her son curled up against her side, the coordinates to New Namek blinking in salvation above her.

**Overall Theme: Prince of all Saiyans**

Eventually, the Namekian elders agreed to summon Porunga.

She held Trunks in her arms as the dragon flew into the air, the atmosphere sparking with energy. For the most part, she understood nothing of what was being said, only that both the first and second wish were about _Vegeta_. Before the third, the elder Mori turned to her.

"This is goodbye, dear," he spoke warmly. "I trust you will help Vegeta continue on his path to redemption."

And then the third wish was spoken, and they were back on Capsule Corp.'s lawn, the Prince of all Saiyans standing before them.

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><p><strong>AN:** If anyone was wondering, Kuriza is Frieza's son in Toriyama's parody manga Nekomajin.


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